A well known form of pony tail holder involves a generously proportioned fabric ring and an elastic ring that is slidably contained in the fabric ring. One known form of pony tail holder is made of a strip of fabric; the longitudinal edges of the fabric strip are stitched together, resulting in a fabric tube; and the ends of the tube are stitched together to constitute a tubular annulus. The elastic ring is wholly contained in the tubular annulus. The fabric ring when fully extended is very much longer than the elastic ring in its unstretched condition, so that the fabric becomes gathered into many folds.
Another known form of pony tail holder, also having a generous fabric ring and an elastic ring, is made of a wide strip of fabric; a relatively narrow portion of the strip's width is folded over and sewn to the wide remainder of the strip's width, in this way forming a relatively narrow tubular passage. The elastic ring is contained in the tubular passage. That portion of the fabric ring which encloses the elastic ring is wrinkled or tightly gathered, and many loose folds or undulations are formed in the area of the fabric that extends outward of the tightly gathered portion of fabric.
In use, each of those hair ornaments is stretched considerably to form a very large fabric-and-elastic loop (the elastic becoming stretched and sliding relative to the fabric as the gathered fabric becomes extended) and the large loop is twisted to form a "FIG. 8"; and the pony tail is drawn through each of the two small loops of the "FIG. 8". The end result is that two loops of fabric folds extend around the pony tail, one loop (and its enclosed elastic) crossing over and crushing the other loop of fabric folds. The bunching of the fabric at the cross-over is so severe that the decorative effect is impaired, especially if the fabric has a printed design.